- Ukraine’s opposition to Putin’s invasion has driven him “insane,” a former Russian oligarch has said.
- Mikhail Khodorkovsky told CNN that Putin expects to be greeted with “flowers” in Ukraine.
- “Not only did it upset him, I really think it literally drove him insane,” Khodorkovsky said.
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An exiled Russian oligarch said Putin went “mad” after expecting the people of Ukraine to “give him flowers” if he invaded the country.
“First he wanted to change power in Kyiv, using his puppet and expecting that this would be answered with flowers thrown on the street by Ukrainian people,” Mikhail Khodorkovsky, the former CEO of Russian oil giant Yukos, told Fareed Zakaria from CNN on Sunday.
Khodorkovsky — who was once the richest man in Russia and was jailed for nine years on fraud and tax evasion charges before his release in 2013 — is an outspoken critic of Putin. He said his detention was politically motivated.
He told Zakaria that Putin went mad when Ukrainians resisted the invasion.
“The fact that the people of Kharkiv didn’t bring him flowers not only upset him, I really think it literally drove him insane. That’s when he started bombing Kharkiv and Kyiv,” Khodorkovsky said.
Khodorkovsky said Putin had three ways out of this crisis: continue to pressure Ukraine, use weapons of mass destruction to force Ukrainians to withdraw, or start “real” negotiations.
Last month, the exiled oligarch said the war in Ukraine would lead to Putin’s downfall.
“I am convinced that Putin does not have much time left. Maybe a year, maybe three,” he told CNN.
On Saturday, former Russian Deputy Energy Minister Vladimir Milov told CNN’s Erin Burnett that top Russian government officials were “personally devastated” by Putin’s aggression in Ukraine, adding that it was only a matter of months before Putin relinquished control lost power.